Vindaloo

This is a dish that was requested by a reader because they liked their curries hot and most of mine, so far, had been pretty mild. I should warn you, this is definitely a HOT dish – so hot, it has been known to induce labour (although, it didn’t work for my wife). Vindaloo gets its heat from two main sources – the vinegar & chillies – the rest of the spices are reasonably mild. So, if you want to reduce the heat a little, then tone down the vinegar and chilli content. The current recipe is definitely for a decently hot final outcome!

Pour in your vinegar and mix around to ensure all your meat is coated. Cover & set aside in the fridge – the longer, the better – I left mine for about 6 hours.

When it comes to cooking time, start by frying off your meat in a little oil. STAND BACK, Don’t pour in the vinegar just yet, but the vinegar and chillies infused in the meat will make it pretty pungent! Open a window, at least! Cook till browned, then set aside.

In the same pan (retaining the meat juices) fry off your cumin, mustard seeds, and cinnamon over a medium heat.

Put in your garlic, ginger and minced onion and cook till the onion is translucent.

Put in your ground spices and sugar and mix into your onions – if the mixture is a little dry and sticks to the pan, put in another tablespoon of oil – you don’t want the ground spices to stick or they’ll go bitter.

Take any left over vinegar from marinading your meat and mix it with 1 cup of warm water. Pour this in to your onion mixture.

Bring to the boil an add in your meat.

Cover, but leave the cover slightly open to allow the sauce to thicken. Bring the heat down and leave to cook. The lower the heat and slower the cooking, the richer the sauce will be. At least 30 mins to get a really rich, thick sauce.

Take the lid off and season to your taste.

Serve with basmati and a decent dollop of plain yoghurt – it’ll help reduce the heat! Enjoy!